TACAS 2012

18th International Conference on Tools and Algorithms for the Construction and Analysis of Systems (TACAS)

TACAS is a forum for researchers, developers and users interested in rigorously based tools and algorithms for the construction and analysis of systems. The conference serves to bridge the gaps between different communities that share common interests in, and techniques for, tool development and its algorithmic foundations. The research areas covered by such communities include but are not limited to formal methods, software and hardware verification, static analysis, programming languages, software engineering, real-time systems, communications protocols, and biological systems. The TACAS forum provides a venue for such communities at which common problems, heuristics, algorithms, data structures and methodologies can be discussed and explored. In doing so, TACAS aims to support researchers in their quest to improve the utility, reliability, flexibility and efficiency of tools and algorithms for building systems.

Tool descriptions and case studies with a conceptual message, as well as theoretical papers with clear relevance for tool construction are all encouraged. The specific topics covered by the conference include, but are not limited to, the following:

Specification and verification techniques for finite and infinite-state systems;

Competition on Software Verification

Associated with TACAS '12 there will be a competition on software verification. TACAS '12 hosts the first such competition event with the goal to evaluate the technology transfer and compare state-of-the-art software verifiers with respect to effectiveness and efficiency. The competition is performed and presented by the TACAS Competition Chair Dirk Beyer. Successful competition candidates are granted a demonstration slot for their tool in the TACAS program, and their contribution paper will be included in the TACAS conference proceedings.

Important dates and submission

Submission guidelines

Research papers cover one or more of the topics above, including tool development and case studies from a perspective of scientific research. They have a maximum of 15 pages.

Case study papers that report on case studies (preferably in a "real life" setting) are also welcome. They should focus on providing sufficiently detailed information about the following aspects: the system being studied and why it is of interest, the goals of the study, the challenges the system poses to automated analysis, research methodologies and the approach used, the degree to which goals were attained, and how the results can be generalized to other problems and domains. Case study papers have a maximum of 15 pages.

Regular tool papers present a new tool, a new tool component, or novel extensions to an existing tool. They focus primarily on engineering aspects, with special emphasis on important design and implementation concerns. A thorough discussion of theoretical foundations is not required, although the paper should provide with a summary of such, with relevant citations. A tool paper should describe the tool's software architecture and core data structures and algorithms, and also give a clear account of its functionality. The paper should discuss the tool's practical capabilities with reference to the type and size of problems it can handle, and experience with realistic case studies. Papers that present extensions to existing tools should clearly focus on the improvements or extensions with respect to previously published versions of the tool, preferably substantiated by data on enhancements in terms of resources and capabilities. Tool papers are evaluated by the TACAS Tool Chair with the help of the Programme Committee. Tool papers have a maximum of 15 pages.

Tool demonstration papers present tools based on aforementioned technologies (e.g., theorem-proving, model-checking, static analysis, or other formal methods) or falling into relevant application areas (e.g., system construction and transformation, testing, analysis of real-time, hybrid or biological systems, etc.) and focus on the usage aspects of the tool. Tool demonstration papers are evaluated by the TACAS Tool Chair with the help of the Programme Committee. Tools presented in tool demonstration papers must be publicly available. Tool demo papers have a maximum of 6 pages.

In order to make the reviewing of tool papers as fair as possible, we established the following guidelines and would like to ask potential authors to study them.

Submitted papers in all categories must:

be in English,

present original research which is unpublished and not submitted elsewhere (conferences or journals) - in particular, simultaneous submission of the same contribution to multiple ETAPS conferences is forbidden,

use the Springer LNCS style, and

fit within the page limit, including figures and bibliography (papers may include an optional appendix containing ancillary material such as proofs, but TACAS referees are at liberty to ignore appendices, and